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Residentas expressed concerns Wednesday about a transportation sales tax referendum during a town hall meeting in Evans.

The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce and county leaders held the first of two Transportation Investment Act meetings about the proposed 1 percent sales tax at the Jabez Sanford Hardin Performing Arts Center.

About 75 people showed up to hear county commission chairman Ron Cross and chamber President Tammy Shepherd give presentations on the referendum, which they called a “fair tax” program.

Columbia County authorities are looking for two men they say recently used a stolen credit card at a Martinez grocery store.

On April 30, a Martinez man told deputies that while he mowed grass behind his Oak Lake Drive home, someone stole his wallet out of his truck. The windows were rolled down, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.

Columbia County authorities are looking for a man they say punched a Martinez convenience store clerk on Friday.

The clerk at the Circle K at 3934 Washington Road told deputies that a customer possibly broke his nose with a punch.

The 20-year-old clerk said he was in the store restroom at about 6:30 p.m. when someone tried several times to pull open the locked door, according to a Columbia County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

When he came out of the restroom, the clerk said he yelled, “Who was trying to get into the bathroom?”

Even though glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM, is the most common malignant brain tumor, it’s also very rare: Just two or three cases occur per 100,000 people in North America.

Yet at least two of those patients are in Columbia County: Ray Lilly, 46, co-owner of Hardwood Floors and More in Evans; and Deborah Marshall, 48, executive director of the Columbia County Board of Elections.

Area authorities recently arrested two men they say broke into vending machines outside self-serve businesses in Columbia and Richmond counties.

Freddie Gordon, 50, of Golden Rod Street in Augusta, was arrested Tuesday evening. He's charged with larceny and second degree criminal damage to property and is being held on a $4,200 bond, according to Columbia County Detention Center records.